Beckett, Youkilis Lead Boston Over Tigers

Beckett bounces back to help Boston even series with New York

(NEWSER) - Manny Ramirez homered and added a two-run double to give the Red Sox the lead, and Josh Beckett rebounded from a bad season debut to lead Boston to a 4-3 victory over the New York Yankees yesterday. A day after Chien-Ming Wang pitched a two-hitter to beat Boston in the series opener, Beckett (1-1) allowed just one questionable hit in the first five innings, and five hits in all. More»

Night of injuries in clash of Cy Young contenders

(NEWSER) - Josh Beckett's record is now a Major League Baseball-best 19-6 after pitching seven innings of one-run baseball last night to add to Boston's lead in the American League East. Fellow Cy Young hopeful Chien-Ming Wang gave up five runs to the Sox and knocked Kevin Youkilis out of the game with a fastball to the wrist, reports the New York Times. More»

NY ties Seattle for AL wild-card lead with key victory over Boston

(NEWSER) - The Yankees grabbed a share of the AL wild-card lead last night with a 4-3 win over Boston in the Bronx. Roger Clemens took a no-hitter into the sixth and surrendered only two hits in six innings for New York, while Boston's Josh Beckett gave up 13 hits en route to his sixth loss. More»

Verlander and Co. can't get it done in rain-delayed game

(AP) - A few minutes past midnight, the Texas Rangers had one more victory over Justin Verlander—and the Detroit Tigers lost yet another wet playoff opener started by their ace. "If anywhere in the country has a drought, just bring me in and I'll fix that," Verlander said after the Rangers beat him 3-2 last night in Game 1 of the AL championship series opener. Before the game was interrupted twice by rain for a total of 1 hour, 50 minutes in the top of the fifth inning, Nelson Cruz broke a postseason slump with a home run and the defending AL champions scored all of their runs off Verlander. More»

(NEWSER) - Luke Hochevar pitched six strong innings and Joey Gathright drove in the only runs, helping the Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 2-0 on Wednesday night and hand Justin Verlander his AL-leading seventh loss. Hochevar (3-2), the first overall pick in the 2006 draft, limited the Tigers to four singles while striking out five and walking three. More»